Defend against identity theft with Instant Alerts. Fraudulent activity on your credit report can complicate your life and take ages to correct. Learn more about how to get better protection with instant email alerts regarding all credit inquiries.

Credit Lock Plus – Equifax and Transunion

Credit Lock Plus is a powerful way to prevent identity thieves from accessing your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports. Learn more about how easy it is to protect your reports with Credit Lock Plus.

TransUnion Credit Score Simulator

Score Simulator shows you ways your current credit score would change based on future actions and events.

TrueIdentity Free Identity Protection

Get powerful identity protection in your hands now with TrueIdentity. It’s backed by TransUnion and completely free!

A credit report is your financial dossier. It is a record of your credit history that lenders use to determine your creditworthiness. Learn more about credit reporting, explore article archives, and educate yourself about this essential component of your financial health.

Credit Score

Educate yourself about what impacts your credit scores. Understand how your credit score plays a crucial role in major life decisions, from auto financing to buying a new home. Click here to explore our article archive.

Identity Theft

Identity theft is a serious crime. Learn more about how to protect your personal information. Find easy tips for preventing identify theft, from locking your credit report to setting up better passwords.

Credit Monitoring

Learn more about the importance of credit monitoring. With credit monitoring you can spot identity theft, correct inaccuracies and receive alerts when changes are made to your report. Keep yourself informed. Read more about how credit monitoring can contribute to your financial health.

Debt and Money Management

Develop the management skills to create and maintain your financial health. Read more about simple ways you can take control of your finances. Useful tips for making a budget, reducing your debt and building a brighter financial future.

Credit Bureaus

You have three different credit reports, one for each of the three credit bureaus—TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. Information varies from bureau to bureau, so it’s important to monitor all three of your reports. Click here to learn more.

Annual Credit Report

You can order your annual credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax) online at AnnualCreditReport.com. Click here to learn more about how to interpret your credit reports.

Mortgage

Whether you’re a first-time homebuyer, second-mortgage seeker or refinancer, financing a home may be the most important investment you make. Learn more about one of the biggest financial decisions of your life.

Credit Cards

Learn more about the different types of credit cards and how they can help you establish better credit for the future. Read more about how credit cards affect your credit rating. With our Featured Offers, find the card that best fits your lifestyle.

Frequently Asked Credit Questions

Staying on top of your finances requires educating yourself on various credit situations.
Get the answers to commonly asked questions about managing your credit.

If you need quick assistance with a task relating to your credit report, you are in the right place. This is your hub where you can place a credit freeze, dispute, fraud alert or request your credit report. Click to find out more and check out our most frequently asked credit questions.

Get Your Free Annual Credit Report

You can order your annual credit reports from each of the three credit bureaus (TransUnion, Experian and Equifax) online at AnnualCreditReport.com. Click here to learn more about how to interpret your credit reports.

Disputes

Learn how to dispute inaccurate and fraudulent information on your credit report. TransUnion offers the easiest and fastest way to resolve any and all inaccuracies on your record. Click here to file your dispute now.

Credit Freeze

If you are concerned about becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, a Credit Freeze might be right for you. Learn more about placing a freeze on your credit report to prevent lenders from accessing your TransUnion credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit.

Credit Disclosures

Under the FACT Act amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to one free annual credit report from each of the three major credit reporting companies per year. Click here to see if you qualify for additional free or reduced fare credit reports.

Fraud Alerts

If you suspect you have been the victim of fraud, TransUnion makes it easy to send alerts to your creditors and the other credit bureaus. Click here to learn more about protecting yourself by sending out alerts now.

Fraud Victims Resources

We know how hard it is to be the victim of fraud. TransUnion makes it easier for you to handle the situation by placing fraud alerts and providing a list of institutions you will need to contact to clear your name, as well as other important resources. Click here to learn more.

1st-time home-shopper? Start these 3 steps now.

Share This Page

As the housing market recovers and a new year brings new plans, you, like many others, may be considering buying your first home. While it’s tempting to just focus on where you want to live and worry about the rest later, you may run into serious roadblocks if you’re not starting these 3 steps now.

1. Start saving

You probably already know you’ll need some cash for a down payment. Putting a certain amount down isn’t just a good idea because most mortgage lenders require it — a big down payment can also help you get a better deal on mortgage terms. All else equal, the more you put down, the less risky the mortgage appears to lenders.

Something else to consider when saving for a down payment? Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). If you don’t have enough cash for at least 20% of the total mortgage loan amount, a PMI premium will be added to your monthly mortgage payment. Lenders can require that you pay this PMI premium until you have at least 20% equity in your home.

2. Start planning your move

Chances are, if you’re buying a home for the first time, you’re renting now. If that’s the case, take a look at your lease. If you’re getting close to the lease’s expiration date, make sure you can rent month-to-month because buying a home can take time.

If your lease doesn’t expire for some time, read it carefully to see what it says about early termination — you may have to pay a penalty or notify the landlord a certain number of days ahead of time.

Of course, you can always reach out to the landlord because virtually everything’s negotiable. Just make sure you get new agreed-upon terms in writing, signed by your landlord as an amendment to your existing lease.

3. Start monitoring your credit

Your credit health is a critical factor when it comes to qualifying for a mortgage or getting the best terms. Building good credit can take time for any number of reasons:

You haven’t established a long-enough history of responsible credit use

You have to dispute a negative credit report item inaccurately reported to one or more bureaus

You just applied for and opened several new accounts

Even if you just checked your credit and it’s in excellent health, you’ll want to do what you can to help protect it in the time leading up to your mortgage application. With TransUnion Credit Monitoring, it’s easy to:

Protect your TransUnion credit report with Credit Lock — block all access with a single touch.

Advertiser Disclosure: TransUnion Interactive may have a financial relationship with one or more of the institutions whose advertisements are being displayed on this site. In the event you enter into a product or service relationship with any such institution through the links provided on the site, TransUnion Interactive may be compensated by such institution. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TransUnion Interactive does not include all credit card companies or all available credit card offers.